Mr. Pascoe covers the Arizona Wildcats for The Arizona Star. You can find his work at:
http://regulus2.azstarnet.com/blogs/pascoe
Baltimore Sports and Life thanks Mr. Pascoe for answering a few Arizona questions.
Baltimore Sports and Life: “Under Lute Olson, the Arizona program advanced to the Elite 8 seven times, the Final Four 3 times, and won a National Title. While Kevin O’Neill, and Russ Pennell also advanced the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament the past two-years (including the Sweet 16 last-year), the program has recently lived a bit under the National radar. Is there a sense the program is now poised to return to prominence under new Head Coach Sean Miller?”
Mr. Bruce Pascoe: “I think there’s a sense it will in the long run, because Sean Miller is a respected coach and the tradition of and interest in the program attracts recruits. Among Pac-10 schools, Arizona is unique in that it plays in a medium-sized market with no pro teams, so the players are recognized everywhere they go around town. Plus the weather is good during the school year — and, in fact, Miller has said that’s a reason why he came here.”
Baltimore Sports and Life: “Arizona opened the season with an 87-70 win over Northern Arizona. In that game, 8 Wildcat players scored at-least 8 points. Would it be accurate to say this is a pretty deep roster for Coach Miller?”
Mr. Bruce Pascoe: “It is deep and arguably more talented than last year but very, very inexperienced. Arizona has just two true veterans — point guard Nic Wise and forward Jamelle Horne. Last season, Arizona has two NBA picks (Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger) but paper-thin depth and rode into the Sweet 16 by riding those guys hard and having no significant injuries. This season, Miller has said he will go eight deep regularly, with one or two others playing a more limited role. So there could be up to nine guys getting double-figure minutes.”
Baltimore Sports and Life: “Despite coming into the Coaching job late, Miller was able to land a 5 man recruiting class, which included four 4 star players. Of course this was aided by Tim Floyd leaving USC, and several members of that class then choosing Arizona. What are your initial impressions of this group?”
Mr. Bruce Pascoe: “As he had to be, Miller was an opportunistic recruiter who took advantage of the fact he had plenty of scholarships and playing time to sell at a time when most high-level programs did not. Solomon Hill actually committed to Arizona under Lute Olson, then committed to USC so his return was not a huge surprise.
The class is surprisingly strong. All five were in the rotation before UA lost Kevin Parrom, a tough-minded wing who brought shooting and a willingness to mix it up inside, to a foot stress fracture that will keep him out until at least December. Solomon Hill is the highest-rated and, while he arrived out of shape, he’s starting to show why, with good passing and running ability for a bigger wing. MoMo Jones isn’t a terrific scorer yet but he has a determination about him that is rubbing off on the team; he’s good at getting to the lane and is a decent shooter. Derrick Williams is maybe the most talented of the bunch, a big forward who can really get up there. They’ve been playing him at center but would like to use him at power forward while the other freshman, Ukrainian big man Kyryl Natyazhko, plays center. But both have a lot to learn, especially defensively.”
Baltimore Sports and Life: “Senior Guard Nic Wise is back after averaging 15.7 points per game, and 41.5% from 3point land his Junior year. Obviously Jordan Hill, and Chase Budinger received a lot of the attention from opposing defenses last season. Do you expect Wise to quickly adapt to being the focal-point of the Arizona offense?”
Mr. Bruce Pascoe: “Yes, he will. He’s seen everything. But it will definitely help take pressure off him if Jamelle Horne can keep showing signs of being a consistent go-to guy inside. The freshmen are also taking the scoring load off him. Horne, Hill, Williams and Jones have also shown signs they can be double-figure scorers, too, so this could be a team with 4-5 guys averaging between 10-15 points each.”
Baltimore Sports and Life: “Class of 2010 Tucson, Arizona PG Terrell Stoglin will be heading to Maryland for his collegiate career. Have you had the opportunity to see him play, or received any reviews of his game?”
Mr. Bruce Pascoe: “I have not seen him, unfortunately. I just don’t have much time during the season, though I would have made a point of watching him if I ever sensed Arizona was serious about him. They did not appear to be, partly because of all the uncertainty that was going on. From what I’ve heard, he will be a good high-major player though there is some talk that his upside is limited.”
Baltimore Sports and Life: “If Maryland were to face the Wildcats in the finals of the Maui Invitational, how would you expect the Terps to game-plan Arizona? Where are the Wildcats vulnerable?”
Mr. Bruce Pascoe: “Arizona has a lot of good athleticism at every position and a lot of the guys can get to the basket. But it isn’t a great outside shooting team, so it would be better to defend the drive. Defensively, they are playing a man-to-man with a fair amount of helping but they have had trouble allowing the ball inside too often. They did manage to keep the ball away from Northern Arizona’s big scorer inside but were burned by a wing guard named Cameron Jones, who sliced through them pretty good. So their man-to-man is definitely a work in progress, but that’s not a surprise from a team that zoned almost exclusively last season and has five freshmen.”
Owner
Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.